Early October

Finally fall. Autumn, that is. Golden leaves. Amber liquor. Guitars and airplanes, Packers football and post-season baseball. All good. Summer was hot and hard and long, and no one shall weep for its passing.
In Nashville, we had three days of spring rain that destroyed lives and property, followed by an unprecedented run of heat that destroyed grass and sanity. I spent several weeks touring in Europe, and that was hot, too. Those nice folks don’t believe in air conditioning. Still had fun, though. The most fun this summer was just outside Nashville, at Tom T. Hall’s home studio, recording new versions of the songs from his Songs of Fox Hollow album. I sang and played and produced, and Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Duane Eddy, Bobby Bare, Last Train Home, Elizabeth Cook, Fayssoux Starling McLean, Tim Carroll, Gary Bennett and lots of other wondrous folks contributed. You want to know what it’s like to finger-pick an acoustic guitar a few feet from where Patty Griffin is singing? Dang straight, you do. The album will come out in 2011. Details to follow, but some of the evidence is already on Facebook, I’m told.
Right now, I’m touring in support of two new albums. One is a solo release called The Lloyd Green Album, and one is a duo release with Eric Brace called The Master Sessions. Both are available through www.redbeetrecords.com. They’re on iTunes also, but the hard copies sound better. The Lloyd Green Album features pedal steel great Lloyd Green on... well, on pedal steel. It also features Rodney Crowell, Kim Carnes and other nifties. The Master Sessions finds Lloyd splitting solos with Dobro hero Mike Auldridge. The albums are filled with full-circle moments for me, and right now people are saying nice things about them. All I can say is that they sound exactly like I wanted them to sound, only more so. Can’t say I’m proud of ‘em, because pride is a sin.
Random thoughts:

Kevin Gordon and Jon Byrd are working on new albums, and I can’t wait to hear them.

The best investment I’ve ever made was my record player.

Aaron Rodgers of the Packers is getting better and better. And his last name is spelled exactly like Jimmie Rodgers.

I can’t help but pull for Brett Favre when he’s not up against the Pack.

I finally found a great headstock tuner for guitar. It’s by Planet Waves, and it costs less than $30. www.planetwaves.com.

Every couple of months, I re-read Alanna Nash’s Behind Closed Doors and Frye Gaillard’s Watermelon Wine, my two favorite books about country music. I also frequently re-read Tommy Womack’s The Cheese Chronicles, my favorite book about rock ‘n’ roll. Oh, and anything by Peter Guralnick works just fine.

Hope you enjoy the new website, as conceived and executed by web guru guy Tim Lybarger.